Knutsford Council – Key Responsibilities

The official description of the role of circle officers can be found in Appendix 3 of the ‘Handbook of Procedure’. The descriptions below are intended to help Brothers new to a role to be clear what specific tasks they need to do. All circle officers are expected to attend council meetings which are on the Monday following a Circle meeting each month.

President

Monthly

  • Chair Circle Meetings
  • Chair Council Meetings
  • Set and/or update agenda for Circle Meeting
  • Set and/or update agenda for Council Meeting
  • Prepare President’s Report for Circle Meeting
  • Review and/or update Newsletter
  • Review Circle Meeting Minutes
  • Review Council Meeting Minutes

Annually

  • Prepare end-of-year report for final Circle Meeting in April
  • Nominate Vice President for following year
  • Choose the President’s Charity for the year

Ad-Hoc

  • Respond to emails from Other Circles, Outside Organisations, Circle Members etc.
  • Enroll new Members and Officers
  • Prepare speeches for various Circle Events

Vice-President

Regular Duties

  • Chair Circle Meetings in the absence of the President
  • Chair Council Meetings in the absence of the President
  • Support the president as necessary
  • Lead on the creation of a programme of social and other events for the Circle (with support of an entertainments committee)
  • Announce the visitors at each Circle Meeting

Annually

  • Ensure an effective entertainments committee is in place
  • Identify a Vice President for following year
  • Choose the President’s Charity for the the following year

Ad-Hoc

  • Respond to emails from Other Circles, Outside Organisations, Circle Members etc.

Secretary

Regular duties

  • The week before a circle meeting ensure that the agenda is agreed with the President and that other council members are asked if they want to add any agenda items. Once agreed send out the agenda and details of the meeting (including Zoom information if appropriate) at least three days before the meeting. A copy of the invitation and agenda should also be sent to the Provincial Secretary for onward distribution.
  • The week before a council meeting agree the agenda with the president and send out to the council together with the details of the meeting (including Zoom information if appropriate).
  • Produce minutes for both Circle and Council meetings promptly. Send out to the Circle/Council and add the minutes to the web-site.
  • Some brothers (and widows) only receive information by post. Post is sent using an electronic web-mail service. Widows receive the Newsletter only, other brothers receive the newsletter and minutes of the Circle meeting.
  • Web-site. Review the site at least twice a year to ensure it is up to date.

On-demand duties

  • Information received from National Council, Province or other Circles. Review the information and then, if appropriate, distribute to either the Council or to Circle.
  • Circle Officers – changes. When a circle officer changes – update the Catenian Database, list of circle officers on web-site, the council distribution mail list and access to the shared google drive

Other duties

  • Web-site. Ensure information on the web-site is kept up to date

Changes in membership

New Brothers

  • When a new brother is ready to be enrolled complete the membership form and send to head office and add the brother’s contact information to the Catenian Database.
  • Add the new brother to the circle email distribution list
  • Add the new brother as a user to the Circle web-site, send them details on how to access teh site and invite them to update their profile.

Death of a Knutsford Brother

  • Inform brothers and province as soon as possible, and follow up with details about the funeral as soon as they are known.
  • Update the Catenian database and remove the deceased brother from circle distribution lists. If appropriate add details of their widow.
  • Delete the brother’s user account on the Circle web-site
  • At an appropriate time ask for someone to produce an obituary and make it available on the web-site and include in the book of obituaries.

Treasurer

Monthly

  • Receive payments in, invoices etc, and attend to payments out. Pay in at bank/post office if necessary. Reconcile with monthly bank statement.
  • Report to Circle summary financial position.
  • Attend Circle and Council meetings.

Activities by month

April

  • Prepare Statement of annual accounts for audit.
  • Prepare budget for current financial year and submit to Council for discussion.
  • With secretary liaise with Head Office on Membership and Catena choices, for the forthcoming year, so that the correct invoice can be prepared.
  • Collect Subscriptions

May

  • Present audited accounts for approval at AGM.
  • Once approved submit a copy to Provincial Treasurer (No later than 18th June)
  • If subscriptions for financial year not already agreed submit at AGM for agreement.
  • Collect Subscriptions

June

  • Collect Subscriptions

July

  • Present interim financial statement to Circle for information
  • Collect Subscriptions

August

  • Collect Subscriptions

September

October

  • Present interim financial statement to Circle for information

November

December

January

  • Present interim financial statement to Circle for information

February

  • With council consider and recommend to the Circle the subscription levy for the next financial year.
  • Give Circle notice of opportunity to change how Catena is received.

March

  • Advise Circle of the proposed subscriptions for the next financial year.
  • Give Circle deadline for receipt of Catena changes

Membership Secretary

  • Be Chairman of the Circle Membership Committee;
  • Promote and co-ordinate the recruitment of new Members; 
  • If required, arrange sponsors for new Members and encourage all sponsors to fulfil their responsibilities to new Members;
  • Design and implement retention programmes to reduce the level of resignations and forfeitures;
  • Co-ordinate his activities with those of the Provincial Membership Officer; and
  • Submit monthly Membership statements.  

Provincial Councillor

  • Provincial Councillor should have served 3 years on Circle Council but this is not an absolute requirement
  • Attend Provincial Council meetings (bi-monthly) and prepare a status report on Knutsford Circle (membership, Circle visits, upcoming events and any other information of interest)
  • Report back to Circle on Provincial Council meetings and actions, and other provincial matters of interest
  • Generally act as a link between the Circle and Province and represent the Circle at Provincial events

Marketing Officer

Routine tasks

  • At circle and council meetings make notes of information that is likely to be of interest to Brothers.
  • Within 3 days of a Circle meeting write the Circle newsletter and distribute to Council for comment.
  • Finalise the newsletter; add the newsletter to the web-site and send a link to web-page (together with a pdf copy) to the Circle.

Ad hoc tasks

  • Work with the entertainments officer to publicise events, add them to the web-site.
  • Take (or arrange for photographs to be taken) of events and add them to the web-site (use in newsletters as appropriate).
  • Produce short articles for inclusion in Catena (and possibly local media/parish newsletters)
  • Support the council in publicising the association as required
  • Work with the Secretary to develop and improve the Circle web-site

Registrar

Face-to-face “live” Meetings

  1. Set up a table at the entrance to the meeting room.
  2. Ensure all brothers and visiting brothers sign in. The Registrar is essentially the gatekeeper. The Registrar is responsible for closing the door when the meeting starts.
  3. When signing in the Registrar also need to ask brothers what they would like to drink at the end of the meeting. From a list of drinks, Brothers can tick their choice.
  4. It is best to get this list to the bar ASAP to give the barman time to prepare the drinks.
  5. Use the signing in procedure get to know brothers and give visiting brothers a warm welcome.
  6. The Circle opens with the President briefly welcoming everyone. He then asks the Registrar if he is satisfied that all present have signed the register.
  7. Having already tallied the register, the Registrar replies “Brother President, I am and a total of ……. are present: …… Knutsford Brothers, …… visiting Brothers, …… visiting Gentlemen and …… Guests”.
  8. Towards the end of the meeting, the President will ask the Registrar to read the names of all of the Knutsford Brothers present at the meeting, so that they can each rise in turn and acknowledge the President. Finishing by saying ” Myself (Christian Name and Surname) and yourself Brother President (Christian Name and Surname) and our visitors and guests”.
  9. Usually, as a “warm welcome”, a bottle of wine is given to one of the Visitors attending the meeting.  The Registrar normally selects the visitor.
  10. At the end of the meeting the Registrar completes a card for each visiting circle listing the names of brothers from that Circle and gives the card to one of the brothers from that circle.

The Registrar maintains a spreadsheet of Brothers, Visitors, Guests attending all meetings and other events, as well as recording details of Knutsford Brothers attendance at other Circle meetings

ZOOM Meetings

The Registrar will be a Co-host, allowing Brothers in to the meeting. The start of the Circle meeting is similar to a live meeting in that the Registrar will be asked for the number of participants including the number of visiting brothers. As well as showing their names, visiting brothers also show the Circle they are from so it is easy to count the visitors. The total number of participants is shown on the ZOOM list. The Registrar can also take an image of the participant list

Circle Welfare Officer

  • Work with the President to identify any Brothers in need of support and prayers.
  • Ensure, with the support of other members of the Circle, that Brothers needing support are contacted regularly and that our help is provided as appropriate.
  • Report to Council and Circle on the status of Brothers needing help – taking care to ensure the confidentiality of Brothers and their families is observed.

Chamberlain

  • At each meeting ensure that the room is laid out appropriately at least 10 minutes before the start of the meeting
  • Arrange for the courteous and fraternal care of visitors and guests at Circle meetings;
  • Ensure that Circle meetings are conducted in accordance with the agreed procedure;
  • Ensure that the meeting room is suitable;
  • Ensure that assets of the Circle (other than financial) are properly and securely cared for. 

Marshall

The Marshal will assist the President in Circle ceremonial and therefore must set an example in observance of detail and dignity of manner. He should assist the Chamberlain in the arrangement of the meeting room, both before and after the Circle meeting.